Sex assault unit opens in Galway

IRELAND’S first amalgamated child, adolescent and adult 24-hour sexual assault service is now up and running in Galway.

The service is the only one of its kind on this island and has come following a protracted campaign on the part of two dedicated doctors who voluntarily set up an out-of-hours service, run from a private hospital and paid for by the HSE on a case-by-case basis.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Joanne Nelson and forensic examiner Dr Roger Derham went to the media last December after the HSE said it would not fund a formal out-of-hours service for children under 14.